Covid certificates now compulsory in nearly half of Spain

Eight autonomous regions started requiring them for access to indoor public venues

The Spaniards are enjoying a long weekend thanks to the Constitution Day festivities there, however, some of the regional authorities also saw this as the moment to implement mandatory COVID certificate rules regarding access to public venues in the context of increasing infection cases. As a result, as of 4 December and with a validity of 30 days (for the time being), people willing to enter any non-essential indoor public spaces (basically anything except food stores, pharmacies and administrative buildings) will have to demonstrate that they have been fully vaccinated, recovered from coronavirus illness in the past six month or have a very recent PCR or antigen negative test.

The “COVID-19 passport” is mandatory so far in Galicia, Navarre, Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, and Murcia, and could be in force soon in other regions in the coming days. In the case of Valencia, the pass is required for places that can welcome more than 50 people.

The COVID 14-day incidence rate now stands at 217 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, which is a rise of 8.6 points during the past week, as the Spanish Health ministry reported.

An effort to ‘save’ Christmas

The Covid certificate can be downloaded on a specific app from each of the regional Health Ministries websites (each Spanish autonomous region has its own healthcare network), and it can be presented both in paper or digitally to the verifying persons, who will have to scan the QR code.

The COVID passport requirement will allow the hospitality sector to operate at full capacity as it makes the need to impose capacity limitations unnecessary. This comes at a time when the commercial and hospitality sectors are in need of smooth operations, given the busy winter holiday season. The measures are thought as a way of keeping everything as close to normal while avoiding restrictions that would mar the holiday spirit of the residents.